Open Letter To Teachers

An open letter to all teachers in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro city school system:

As you may have read or heard, Bert Wartski and I are appealing our involuntary transfers from Chapel Hill High School. As colleagues, we want to assure each of you that in all honesty, neither of us has been given any documented or substantiated reason for our transfer. We understand that 13 other teachers have been involuntarily transferred as well, but since we have heard from only two others, we really cannot speak for everyone in this situation.

While we have been dealing with the arduous process of trying to stop the transfers, each of us has become increasingly aware that what is happening to us could happen to any teacher in the system. Right now, board policy 7440 allows involuntary transfers unless the decision to transfer is “arbitrary, capricious, political, or discriminatory.” We feel that all of these conditions apply to our proposed transfers; further, we fear that as a result of our protest, these safeguards could be eliminated and a very dangerous precedent could be established.

Anonymous complaints about you could cause you to be a victim of an involuntary transfer, and you would have no recourse. Hence, we ask you to stand with us as we work to block the board and the superintendent from transferring us so unfairly.

Our motion to stay the transfers will be heard at the Orange County Court House, August 17, at 2:00 in Superior Court. Since Friday is an optional teacher workday, please consider spending your lunch hour with us. Join us on the steps of the Old Court House in Hillsborough at 1:30. Whether you support our particular cases or not, your actions could help prevent this kind of unfair treatment from happening to a colleague or to you. If Bert and I win, we ALL win: the teachers, the students, and the community.

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